the games are being kicked off with a dazzling show and now a record ninety eight sets of medals up for grabs in fifteen different sports are keeping abreast of the winter olympics with its special extensive coverage on air and on the line. in the street violence with crowds clashing with police and torching government buildings across the country furious with soaring unemployment and corruption. the hub of terror thousands of foreigners reportedly recruited by hardline islamist in syria trained for attacks as the war there rages on.

ten am in moscow i'm at present very good to have you with us our top story the winter games in sochi officially underway in the olympic schedule for the next sixteen days is a busy one r.t. international following the games closely and joining me now is our own and he said now a live in our sochi studios a very memorable memorable opening night last night tell us more about it. it wasn't good the city is still low rumbling really can feel the energy in the air after what we saw last night with the opening ceremony of course kicking off the twenty cents for a second winter games here in the russian culture still city right behind me you can see the olympic village and of course burning bright is the olympic flame it has been lit and will stay that way for the next three weeks and of course we here at r.t. will continue our special coverage in and out behind the scenes taking you through

these next three weeks in sochi now for this ceremony of course the two and a half hour. so took spectators on a breathtaking journey through russian culture and history more than forty thousand spectators from around the globe packed into the fish to the stadium to witness this extravaganza this ceremony featuring the olympic rate of nations this time with a different athlete's not didn't enter the stadium from the side as usual but marched up right from the middle emerging from a changing now of the world of course there was a grand fireworks display. off we watched it here with my colleague kevin owen but we have correspondents and reporters throughout the city not only down here in the coastal cluster but up in the mountain clusters artie's andrew farmer andrew competition a vow to kick off a stunning celebration we had down here now it's time for the athletes to get down to business. again that's right in the center of the first medals are up for grabs

and the very first ones we've won up here in the mountain cluster and that will take place in the men's snowboarding slopestyle final which is due to take place around about lunchtime that rush is best hope to medal today actually take place down the coast to cluster and it could be the perfect birthday present for the speed skater but if he turns thirty one today will be competing in the five thousand maces that's an event where he won the bronze medal in vancouver four years ago but there's a very good chance he could do even better today he does have home advantage he will be competing in front of thousands of his fans that you could argue could bring a bit of extra pressure mr scobell have says he's up for it. but we've been able to cope with the media pressure of course there's going to be much more attention to the olympics but also there would be more fans supporting us pushing us forward that's certain to give us additional strength additional energy to the mind and to the feet we definitely skate faster to the joy of the fans at the stadium to the

millions watching the broadcasts. well the metals and cells are a fascinating design and how they are made it's pretty interesting to say i took a closer look. it's what all athletes in sochi a dreaming of podium finish and then a limp dick medal around. and if they're good enough to get one they'll be taking hiding something. these guns reflexive cheese landscape by the jacket weeks of present yana he just sandy beaches of the black sea is a design that will be useful even some paralympics with a curiously powered infused we'll get new medal for the efforts. that got the.

electric gold medal weighs an average of five hundred twenty to five hundred forty grams a paralympic gold medal is about six hundred seventy just six hundred eighty grams but the reason for the weight difference between olympic gold medals is because the titles of different sport disciplines vary in length they have to be engraved which means that the longer the title of the disappointed the lighter them. no matter what their weight each one takes a staggering eighteen hours to make it starts on the late the medals are cut to the right size a special machine creates that icy looking center and the game's trademark patchwork quilt pattern is engraved reflecting russia's cultural diversity all part of twenty five different manufacturing steps a record thirteen hundred medals have been minted in this way for the sochi games where twelve new events will make their intake debut has been a big undertaking for russian jewelry manufacturer adam ass they've needed two tons

of silver which is the main ingredient and it does mean that when his medals are not worth their weight ingolf. only used as a final casing in fact their rule value is just a few hundred dollars to tell you they are in fact priceless andry pharma. so you the jug a piece of glass not pretty on a rim printed on the metals but they're also leaving a lasting impression on journalists today because this resort has been receiving rave reviews it might sound a bit surprising simply because none of this was here just a few years ago but i spoke to one destroy the engine if you believe that the results of rows of brutal could actually rival the french alps. i'll go into quite a few of the crowd ski resorts of the world and these are the best looking mountains i've seen any days out there is a beautiful mountains there are

a steal of two everywhere the infrastructure seems right on really really impressed this place has had so much negative press in the last week i think some of it's coming from americans or just get off the plane get off the bus and just expect russia to be bad no nice and small things haven't worked. is a problem with my shower in my apartment but this is these are small things to to me it doesn't mean russia has broad brush or is beautiful. right thanks to our team andrew farmer up in the mountain cluster will be joining him of course throughout the day as these competitions take place and with a unique combination of snowy mountains up there and warm seas down here sochi was practically built from scratch to host these winter olympics there are eleven brand new athletic venues divided between the coastal amount in clusters and they're all connected by a thirty minute journey and that's the reason why sochi was dubbed as the most compact winter games in history. everything is small you know the different age and everything it's close we can go by wall there is not the big security so we feel we

feel free and we feel confident seems like we're going to put on a good show here in russia. not the scale of the close is insane and i've been they say. in general i think the russians are very enthusiastic about sport and about the olympics so i expect them to play great hosts to the world and so far what i've seen has been very impressive to hollywood star and martial arts expert steven seagal who has a close friendship with the mayor puts and he believes there's no reason to doubt the efficiency of the security measures put in place here and such. i would agree with some of the folks who are saying that sochi is probably one of the safest places around right now and i think the world you know in all of the different countries that are participating in the olympics are all very concerned about trying to make this a wonderful experience and everybody's cooperating and working hard in their own

perspective areas so i think that as a world we all support each other to try to make any olympics anywhere in the world a secure wonderful event where politics are kept out of. steven seagal there speaking to our team and we'll be extensively covering the game. here in sochi keeping a close eye on everything that's happening both at the sea coast and in the mountain cluster for now back to you in moscow absolutely with a nice oh we're all looking forward to it artie's a nice in a way live for us in sochi and we're keeping a close eye on everything that's happening at the winter olympics and we also want you to know that we're also keeping a close eye on the tweets too we have our tease twitter feed all set and ready to go because we're giving you all the latest updates and everything you need to know about the games we haven't sorted into categories a quick click will take you to the first competition in this case the men seventy

five will slopestyle kicked off thirty minutes ago and it's now in full swing here is great britain's billy morgan it was reporting about how he was feeling moments before his turn and then of course the american athlete shaun white were there is a right there calling on his fans to wish him good luck so don't miss any of the action from the games you can follow it all on our twitter coverage. the g twenty four team promises the ultimate in the exhilarating winter. storm and you sonali make have an island and the rest of our lives take us to the sochi twenty four take. on. switching gears now to some of the day's other top stories thousands of protesters across bosnia storm local government buildings and clashed with police as anger over unemployment and economic stagnation turned violent there more than two hundred people wounded in demonstrations most of them

police in the capital sorry a vote rioters set the presidential building on fire along with police cars and tires authorities fired rubber bullets water cannons and tear gas to disperse angry crowds in other parts of the country protesters rolled rocks at security guards and torched local government buildings yet arrest first erupted over the closure of several state owned companies that were privatized but later filed for bankruptcy analyst mark mason says the violence could grow into a full blown uprising. forty percent of the population of bosnia they are simply employed without any work whatsoever so these conditions are like a not at all surprising that we have a mass popular uprising some of the police may come over and that's one of the factors that has been actually studied by social scientists is that when about five percent of the population say they've had it with the government and they get some significant fraction of the police forces to say i'm through with this too i'm

joining the protesters pretty much the end of it for the government so we want to watch that very closely. still to come switzerland readying for a controversial vote to curb immigration right wing politicians waiting for foreigners to the country's woes but some say measures will only damage the economy a closer look a little later in the show. but first a lead recording of a phone call shiny new light on washington's role in ukraine's anti-government unrest assistant u.s. secretary of state victoria nuland tape discussing how to solve the crisis in kiev take a listen. so that would be great i think to help glue this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and you know the e.u. european union's made no comment on that recording the audio also captured her talking over what role each opposition member could play in a new ukrainian government state department hasn't denied the authenticity of the recording said nuland the apologize for comments that german chancellor merkel

called unacceptable commentator rick rose off things the conversation is an example of the u.s. plotting regime change. this story would not have gained traction it would not have achieved the exposure it had if that word had not come out i'm afraid that maybe obscured the actual content of the discussion which is all but you know presenting a blueprint for regime change at least significant words she issued during the course of the conversation with the u.s. ambassador is the one that it's game to the notoriety for better or worse that as what you're really seeing is just holes casually and callously the u.s. state department plots political transformation in other countries outside the legitimate which is saving a lot of toral reno oh it in effect engineers regime change even going down into the most mind my new particulars as to who should and should not be a future prime minister so if they come when we're rooting as an army's major strategy.

it's time to launch a commercial after the break before don't like israel taking to the airwaves to boost its combat units. an article at business insider brags for americans who feel insecure about their country in light of china's impressive achievements it may be reassuring to know that while the chinese would rather live to the united states and stay at home yesterday chinese are getting green cards in record numbers do they love you for your freedom well not exactly for according to the headline china's wealthiest citizens are fleeing to the u.s. amid corruption crackdown yes you americans should feel so insecure because apparently america is the best place to flee if your corrupt.

dramas that try to be ignored. stories others refuse to notice. the faces change the world lights now. the old picture of the days. from around the globe. dropped. to fifty. fifty minutes past the hour the syrian government confirmed its participation in the next round of geneva peace talks set to take place monday while radical factions are thought to be gaining momentum in the war is limits are thought to have recruited tens of thousands of foreigners potentially causing an intelligence

headache back in their homelands or these tests are so your reports from london. a british heart is known as. tommy is believed to be the first brit to have carried out a suicide attack in syria after a vehicle packed with explosives was taken to a prison allowing some three hundred prisoners to escape british citizens along with other europeans travelling to syria as young as sixteen and fighting alongside jihad as groups of long been a concern for authorities it's believed now that there are about three hundred fifty britons over there making up the largest contingent of some one thousand westerners and this new development reinforces of the urgency expressed by a governments here and having to deal with a specific group of jihad is scary they are countries passports. the information is finally come out that we seeing this actually happen in syria however given the trends that we've seen in syria over the past few years it's not surprising that we're seeing british individuals or foreign individuals more generally becoming

involved in suicide operations on the ground i think if we compare this particular conflict in syria with the battlefields that we've seen around the world need the rapidity with which we've seen the large numbers of foreigners be drawn to the battlefield is from my perspective i'm president of the numbers that were being they were hearing created about. the news for british intelligence and it presents a very difficult picture for them to manage in sounding the alarm over this phenomenon authorities are regreasing be worried about what happens with these individuals returning home group of britain sub already threatened to carry out terrorist attacks in the u.k. and this is believed to be the first direct threats to come out of syria reporting from london i'm test. your software suddenly crash there could be reason to worry that you're being water fresh leaks from edward snowden is he just british intelligence special tactics to discredit those they've been spying on with banned cyber attacks among them but r.t.

dot com for the details there. making it. touch feel almost real implanted durable like make it possible to give feedback and prosthetic limbs more on this medical breakthrough is a click away. choice voters set to decide this weekend whether to put a cap on the country's influx of immigrants a controversial bill proposed by switzerland's nationalist party plans to introduce quotas against some foreigners but some say shutting the border will only cause problems for the economy or to those accounts in our reports welcome to switzerland breathtaking views plentiful jobs and low taxes it's no surprise that the streets here are growing more crowded some eighty thousand new residents arrive each year a significant number for a country of just eight million our industry our economy meets immigration to a certain point but everybody missed under estimated the situation the number of

people coming is much much higher than anywhere else in the world on sunday switzerland will ask its citizens whether to reintroduce quotas for immigration from abroad including e.u. members although itself not a part of the law switzerland has signed on to the e.u. rules on freedom of movement if passed the initiative would pit the swiss against an angry brussels but supporters aren't worried the swiss parties the swiss said the political elite they were very enthusiastic about joining the european union ten years ago. but people changed they saw the disadvantages they saw the immigration is tremendous much bigger than we thought and so there was also a change of thinking and anti immigration slogans are gaining more traction here in switzerland at first about a third of voters supported the initiative now that figure is over forty percent so what's behind this push to keep outsiders out of switzerland well some experts say

and motions and a lot to do with that. there is. competition in the housing market competition in traffic and there is competition in the labor market so citizens. it's populist politics playing this just anger in their in this field but as elsewhere in europe and to immigration messages seem to be resonating and pollsters say even voters without political affiliation may vent their frustration come sunday voters like this swiss businessman who owns a cosmetics factory to name as a manufacturer i profit from this the more people i sell my products to the better but i'm also a swiss citizen i don't want to live like a sardine in my country switzerland is tiny and we simply can't accommodate all the immigrants the country can't take anymore. but the proposed curbs also take aim at highly skilled workers there is no way to run the health or education system.

because there's no way to do modern business in particular financial services franking without foreigners in there is no way to run to risk this out waiters and cooks from other countries switzerland is highly dependent on this work force four in ten companies in switzerland including nestle are founded by foreigners last year they created around thirty thousand new jobs part it's a bit weird that no they are against the foibles because they need them i mean we are not stealing the jobs we are just taking the job they don't want to do so that's why i figured so this so this put on her lou i don't understand how this sunday's vote is likely to strain ties with brussels but the fear is that it could have more economic consequences than the country bargained for reporting for r.t.e. in switzerland and lucy caffein of take a look now at some other global headlines this hour the evacuation is begun of

dozens of civilians trapped in the besieged syrian city of ha. homes for hafiz for a year and a half buses loaded with women and children ferried at least eighty three from the area after an uneasy cease fire between rival sides came into effect pause in the fighting the first visible results of the geneva two talks ending the civil war thousands of civilians thought to remain in the besieged city without food or medicine. in brazil a world cup stadium worker killed in a construction accident the portuguese national was hit in the head while dismantling a crane becoming the third person to die at the site and the sixth overall atallah he's causing concerns about working conditions in the build up to the event many brazilians unhappy about the cost of the world cup while they say social services remain severely underfunded. at least seventeen people dead in argentina after a bus crashed into a truck in the western city of mendoza the truck being driven at high speed on the wrong side of the road local reports say it had

a brazilian plate and was stolen the bus was carrying thirty people from cordoba and burst into flames after a collision as israeli army recruiters say their numbers are choosing the numbers of those choosing to serve in combat units or following the government started to look for new ways to pump things up a t.v. commercial the latest weapon in the military's arsenal darkeys paul asli reports. these really army has a new fight on its hand numbers in combat units are down potential recruits are shying away from signing up for fighting it seems has lost its glamour the i.d.f. is concerned it's circulating videos like this online that celebrate the strength of the israeli fighter in this one a weight lifter proclaims he's strong. as is the i.d.f. this elderly man is drinking strong coffee and this teenage girl is pounding strongly on drums both clips in but the catch phrase sounds the idea is strong

surely cause smiles when he watches the videos the twenty five year old served in me one of israel's most prestigious fighting brigades he spent two and a half years in and out of gaza a close friend of his was killed there in the line of duty like others he's asking of serving in combat was the right decision as it is sure what i did is important and needs to be done but i don't think it helped me in the long run not for finding a job and not for my education i think i would do things differently if i have the chance again. and the stats seem to support him over the last three years motivation among youngsters wanting to serve an idea of combat units has dropped by nine percent more noise radios off thinking twice about whether they want to put their life on the line to serve their country you value a lams also fighting the statistics the if for special unit veteran runs boot camps encouraging high schoolers to follow his footsteps into the i.d.f.

each squads through the you can see that in certain places over in israel the parents. prefer that their kids will see him in much more safer places. where you cannot be. in danger the i.d.f. spokesman peter lerner insists the drop in number doesn't change things. the idea if i can still keep the country safe is part of the situation where the types of threats have also changed it's also a result of an atmosphere where there are other units which also are substantial in the type of defense that they supply for instance technological units the army stand on the combat units. important computer very important but you need the people that stand in front of the an enemy and save the border for all the glory

it's also combat helix may not be fighting the biggest battle of their existence keeping themselves going. policy r t tel aviv. breaking this with abby martin coming your way next stay with us here at r.t. internet. the first recreational marijuana shops are now open in colorado finally the question of what effect legal marijuana will have on the american public can be answered with real world experience you know there are a lot of people out there with strong arguments as to why we should legalize this controversial play it firstly there are plenty of things just as bad for us as

marijuana or worse like beer cigarettes anti-depressants and mystery fast food meats which are totally legal secondly young men are often thrown in jail for the absolutely victimless crime of smoking marijuana i can see punishing someone for drugs like crystal meth which can and do turn people into maniacs but have any of you out there ever heard of someone breaking into people's houses on a we ramp age no no you haven't the downside to all of this is that across america the world people are looking for change and they want a massive storm rise but when the masses are stoned out of their minds it makes things in life that we shouldn't tolerate become very tolerable we now call allow us to make it through another day of our miserable lives so that we can live without going through all that effort of trying to make things better or challenge the system legalizing weed will just pacify the masses even more but that's just my opinion.

the. what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking the set of all assistant secretary of state victoria no one's taken flack this week after saying as the european union and reference to the e.u. is an action on ukraine's political crisis well speaking of geoffrey pyatt u.s. ambassador to ukraine on the phone granted it was supposed to be off the record but actually the f.t.e.

part of the scandal the least interesting part of the conversation see during that phone call the two diplomats are overheard discussing what the role of ukraine's opposition leader should be and the need to solidify regime change in the country while talking about ukrainian opposition leader vitaly klitschko no one says i don't think that klitschko should go into government i don't think it's a good idea which piatt later responds in terms of moving the process ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together. so if there is any doubt before that the u.s. is looking for ways to meddle into a sovereign nations internal affairs this lead conversation should confirm that suspicion look there's a revolution going on in ukraine right now in the outcome should be the will of the people not the u.s. and europe russia or any other foreign state actor so good luck to the state department at the damage control on this one it's about that time to break the said .

it was a. very hard to think that. i ever had sex with the terror threat there though. hello to the little a. little. like that. yesterday i spoke with pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges about the notion of crisis coltan the collapse of complex societies but we also discuss the nature of the economic machine that's responsible for this collapse this system is fueled by.